February 22, 2010 - The Heart of the Soul Nebula

The Heart of the Soul Nebula IC 1848 is the designation of a small open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia and the emission nebula that surrounds it. Known as the Soul Nebula because a neighboring nebula, IC 1805, is remarkably heart-shaped, IC 1848 is a glowing region of ionized gas where star birth is taking place. This striking image of the center of the Soul Nebula was created by amateur astronomer Antonio Fernandez and is the result of exposures totaling eighteen hours in three different spectral regions (Hydrogen-Alpha, Oxygen-III, and Sulfur-II). Fernandez acquired the data in 30-minute blocks over the course of a month in late 2007 using an 11-megapixel astronomical CCD imager attached to a 10-inch f/3.6 astrograph operated at his home observatory in Madrid, Spain.